The Thief and the Thorn
by TheDauntlessDemiWizard
Summary: Until Corine Briar, it was unheard of for a daughter of Aphrodite to loathe the concept of romantic love. Until Connor Stoll, that is. Rated T for Language and Sexual References.


**A.N.- Hi guys! So this is my first fanfiction story on this account… I used to have another, but because of my extreme procrastination issues I would never update. Therefore, I will now write at least ten chapters of any given story I write before posting it on fanfiction! Actually, this idea has been floating around in my head for a while… I mean, if I were an Aphrodite camper, I'd get pretty fed up with not doing anything worth notice- no offense to Piper and Silena, of course! Enjoy the story!**

* * *

I never understood why people made such a big deal about this "beauty" thing.

I mean, seriously. If you're a demigod- especially if you're a demigod- it's not going to keep you alive for more than a few minute, at most. Look at Helen of Troy, for example. Although she was mortal, she caught the eye of the idiotic Prince Paris and ended up being taken away from her husband.

The truth is, beauty is worthless. It's a fragile, fickle thing that is hard to control and even harder to maintain. Girls waste away in front of mirrors, wondering what they did wrong to not look absolutely, revoltingly perfect. They compare themselves to friends and enemies alike, completely unaware that the other party is doing the same thing. Beauty is just a cruel joke on humanity wrapped up in a shiny foil and covered in glitter.

Sorry about this, mom. But hey, it's true.

Yes, I am, unfortunately, a daughter of Aphrodite. What can I do about it now? Mistakes happen. So, I am writing to you now, mother, in hopes that you will finally understand my hopeless case. For your sake, I advise you stop telling my siblings to help me on "the wondrous, wonderful path of love" before you give yourself a headache- I mean, really. Even you have to admit that I don't exactly raise the bar when it comes to Cabin 10 values. Let's look back, shall we?

When asked what type my ideal boyfriend would be, I answered, "nonexistent". When told that my answer didn't count, I told them "dead". Yup, the majority of my dear siblings shunned me for weeks after that.

One day, a camper came to our cabin looking for romantic advice. Regrettably, I was the only one there. He asked how he should ask out the girl he liked. I replied, "Don't".

And, last but not least, I do have a rather troubling tendency to punch boys in the face when they so much as threaten the virtue of innocent young women. Hmm… it's not like they have any more brain cells to lose. Oh well.

Remember the enchanted diary you gave me on my twelfth birthday, Mom? You told me to write about my romantic troubles and you would try your best to fix them. Ironically, I have decided to write not about the problems that love gives me, but the problems that I give love.

-Hoping that you do not choose to incinerate her,

Your daughter

* * *

The goddess of love frowned as she read her own identical copy of the journal she had gifted her daughter just four years ago. Although this was just a moment of time for her, she understood that it was much more significant for mortals. When she had first "met" her daughter ("met" as in idly watching her from Olympus), she had assumed that the "no boys" mantra she seemed to hold was just a phase- clearly, she had been mistaken. The girl was sixteen, and had never so much even thought of a male as attractive. It wasn't that she was into her own gender or anything… she just didn't understand the concept of romantic love.

The goddess did admit that the little firecracker had ruined several of her incomplete plans to get certain campers together. Half of the time, she swore that the girl knew exactly what she was up to. Her daughter never went so far as to actually wreck a relationship, however. If she sensed that one party was disinterested, she would do her best to make sure that they were not sucked into something that they did not want- this was the extent of her daughter's interference.

Thankfully, the girl knew better than to mess with Percabeth. Seriously, even _she_ liked Percabeth._ No one_ touched Percabeth.

Artemis, who was also in the throne room, peered over the other goddess's shoulder. Normally, the two did not get along, but Artemis was always on the lookout for new hunters.

"Trouble with Corine, again?" the auburn haired girl said curiously, scanning the text. Soon after she was done reading, she smirked. This girl was easily one of the most entertaining demigods at the camp. Aphrodite nodded, her styled blonde curls swinging from the abrupt motion.

"But of course! Really, I never can understand what is going through that child's mind," Aphrodite said irritably, "What kind of girl doesn't _love_ love?"

_A smart one_, Artemis thought internally, but she held her tongue.

"You know, I never did understand why she wasn't interested in becoming a hunter when she hates most adolescent boys," the goddess of maidenhood said thoughtfully, "Would you have any ideas?"

Aphrodite looked appalled. "One of _my_ children committing to eternal _chastity_? Not even Corine would do that to her mother! Can you imagine not being able to-" Artemis cleared her throat uncomfortably. She didn't have a particular desire to imagine what Aphrodite was no doubt about to launch into a very detailed explanation of. Poor Hestia, who was too sweet and mild mannered to object a conversation, had looked traumatized after having an hour-long chat with the rather inappropriate goddess.

* * *

Corine had just recollected her quiver of arrows as the dawn sky broke over Camp Half Blood. Eos must have been in a very good mood today; instead of the usual yellows and oranges, hues of pink were thrown in as well.

No one ever understood her compulsive need to get up extra early and train. Hades, not even she completely got her mindset. But, ever since she was thirteen, it had been a part of her life- As had studying Greek Mythology until her eyes watered and her head pounded, or memorizing the names of every single Greek god or goddess that had ever existed.

She supposed that because she was a daughter of Aphrodite, she felt the need to get rid of the stereotype that dubbed Corine as "weak". Oh, how her blood would boil when she thought of that word. It was amazing how one syllable could do so much damage to one's self esteem.

It had been just about a year since the Doors of Death had been closed, and the camp had gone pretty much back to normal, save the Aphrodite Cabin. It had gotten pretty crowded, and still no one had dared to touch Piper's bed. In fact, they treated it as more of a memorial than a mattress.

Corine gripped her bow just a bit tighter. Why was it that Cabin Ten was so easily forgotten? In both of the prophecies, they had played a vital role. Without Silena, the Ares Cabin would have refused to help fight, and Clarisse wouldn't have been able to slay the Drakon. She had saved the lives of countless innocents, knowing that she would soon die. Soon after, Piper had volunteered herself to close the Doors. At first, it had looked like Leo Valdez was going to make the sacrifice, but the brave girl had the guts to charmspeak the seven into letting her do it instead. Corine assumed that Piper had been tired of feeling useless, just like herself. To this day, Leo could almost always be found lying in the wreck of Argo II, muttering to Festus about the various repairs that had to be made. He had not smiled, laughed, or cracked a joke since then.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. Well, that was odd. The cleaning harpies wouldn't be coming for another month, and Mrs. O'Leary usually stayed to the confines of the arena. Chiron was always in the Big House until breakfast, and Mr. D was just a lazy bum in general. Besides her, the only people that were up, awake, and moving at 5:30 am were-

_Stoll_.

She internally groaned. What were they doing this time? By the looks of it, they had been up for a while, as they were carrying a suspicious amount of duct tape and a shady looking parcel of some sort… And was that her cabin they were heading towards? She squinted to make out more of the scene (the archery range was a pretty far distance away from the cabins, after one nasty incident including Will Solace and a flaming marshmallow).

Corine narrowed her eyes. There were a lot of young campers that had just arrived at the camp, a great majority of them Aphrodite's. Most of the Hermes cabin knew better than to prank the younger children when she was around, given her partialness towards young children. There was no way in Hades that she would let the Stolls terrorize and torment innocent girls and boys on her watch. Thanking the gods that her extra training had paid off, she quietly crept just behind the two pinnacles of evil. Honestly, it was amazing that they were dense enough to not notice the girl who was no less than a foot away from them. Well, what can you expect? Just after Corine had assured her position, the elder Stoll opened his mouth.

"Are you sure about this, Connor? I mean, you do know what will happen to you after this, right?" Travis said worriedly to his younger brother. Although she could not see Connor's face, she was positive that he smirked.

"Being with Katie's softened you up, man. Besides, it's not like Corine can actually kill me or anything. First of all, she's a _girl_," Corine stiffened, and almost throttled him right then and there, "Second, she from Aphrodite." This time, it was a wonder that she didn't kill him on the spot. "What's she going to do, kill me with her mirror?" Connor said, expecting his brother to laugh at his comment. He didn't.

"She just might, dude, if she even owns one. Have you ever actually talked to the girl? She's like a scary bundle of Katie, Annabeth, and a Hunter mixed in a highly volatile bomb. Do you remember that one prank that the rest of our cabin did while we were… erm… _borrowing_ from the camp store? The one that was going to be the highlight of the summer but failed miserably?" the taller Stoll said cautiously.

"Yeah, but I still don't get how that-"

"That was her," Travis said darkly, "Somehow, she figured out that we had stolen all of the girl's clothes save their underwear. Remember how practically all of the males in our cabin came back with their voices three octaves higher?" Understanding and surprise dawned on Connor's face. That was _Corine Briar_? But she's from _Cabin Ten_!"

"Don't underestimate a pissed off girl, little bro," Travis said wisely, shaking his head at his brother, "As a matter of fact, I hear that- Oh. _Styx_." An expression of panic crossed the teenager's features. Connor looked at him questioningly.

"What is it? Did you not bring enough glue to put into the little kid's hair? Or did you forget the bloodworms for the older ones? Because believe me, I have plenty of both." Travis shook his head again.

"No, that's not it… I was going to say… um, I've heard that Corine gets up early during weekdays to train. Styx. Styx. Oh man, Connor, let's go and save this until Saturday." He said, his face turning whiter by the minute.

Corine would have smirked, but cold fury pounded in her veins instead. She understood that the older Aphrodite kids might be annoying, but why would the two idiots feel the need to bully eight year olds that had just arrived yesterday? As her temper grew, Connor turned around- just to find himself face to face with an overprotective teenage girl.

* * *

Travis had been right. Oh gods, Connor was royally _screwed._

On top of basically pointing out all the reasons why Corine Briar was weak and incapable of stopping this prank, he had gone ahead and spilled exactly what they were planning to do to the new campers- just to turn around and face the spitting mad subject of their previous conversation. He braced himself, expecting her to rant about how she was not weak and she was going to tell Chiron, etc. etc. What he had not expected was the sharp slap that resounded across the camp. He raised a hand to his stinging cheek. Was it red from the blow, or was that sheer humiliation? The girl glared at him icily.

"You think _so_ highly of yourself, don't you Stoll?" she said, enunciating every syllable, wielding them like weapons. "You claim that you are _so_ great, and yet you still feel the need to pick on mere eight year olds."

Gods. Connor hadn't known that they were that young. Usually, the youngest demigods that arrived were ten or eleven at least. Suddenly, he felt guilt prickling at him. Wait, what? He was Connor freaking Stoll! His guilt was nonexistent! But nevertheless, he was not going to risk putting his ego on the line. Campers had started to come out of their cabins, trying to see what the commotion was all about.

Obviously, he was a better fighter than a girl-which left him one option. Since Piper had… left, basically all of the Aphrodite girls had started acting like Drew- in other words, sluts. So, being the genius he was, Connor figured that if he played his cards right he could escape with his life. He wasn't going to lie to himself- he was pretty popular around camp. All of the other guys at camp deemed "good looking" by the girls were taken save him, and he had a feeling that it was going to work in his favor today. Travis seemed to know what he was thinking, and shook his head frantically. Connor grinned and gave him a mental thumbs-up.

Before orchestrating his brilliant escape plan, he subtly looked the girl up and down for anything he could compliment.

Meh. For a daughter of Aphrodite, she was pretty average. Brownish hair, kind of tall, grayish eyes, and an almost completely flat chest. Okay, so maybe he shouldn't go down the complement route. Instead, he decided to go with plan A. He turned on the charm to level 7 (he wasn't quite sure that the girl was worth the effort of a ten) and started his schpeel.

"Okay, I guess I'll make you a deal," he said, closely watching the wary look in her eyes, "If you give us a bit of leeway, I might consider letting you go on a date with me. How's that?" Connor stated, leaning in a bit closer to the girl to allow her a full view of his tousle-worthy hair. He knew that she would jump at the opportunity, or at the very least blush. Corine looked at him closely- in his opinion, obviously wondering just how tousle-worthy his hair was.

"You self righteous, ignorant, immature bastard."

Or not.

Unfortunately, the few spectators had gone so silent that they had all, no doubt, heard her. And then, that girl had the nerve to walk away from him, leaving him even more embarrassed.

As he watched her walk away, he promised himself that next time, she would be the one who was humiliated.

* * *

Travis sighed to himself as he and his disheartened brother went down to the Pavilion. News at Camp Half Blood spread like wild fire, and it didn't take long for the entire demigod population to know that Connor Stoll had been slapped, rejected and humiliated by Corine Briar.

Honestly, he didn't know why the camp was just know learning of the girl's existence- she had been subtly foiling their plans since she was thirteen, just a year younger than Travis and two years his own junior. Just before they would prank someone, a crucial bit of supplies would suddenly disappear, or the targets of the joke would conveniently be somewhere else- especially if it was aimed at little kids. He wondered if the ruthless girl that had slapped his brother could have another side as well. However, a soft peck on the cheek snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, what're you thinking about? Usually you're a zombie until noon…" Katie trailed off. He raised an eyebrow at her, a silent inquiry. Realization appeared in her green eyes.

"Oh, is this about Corine? She isn't as bad as you think, you know. She hates it when people pick on the younger ones. Maybe it has something to do with her sister…? Anyways, tell Connor not to judge her too harshly. All of us have some kind of emotional baggage, and from what I heard, Connor deserved what he got. Okay?" his girlfriend said, touching his arm. Well, he couldn't blame her for defending the girl. Corine was a pretty close friend of hers, and she loved to treat her like a younger sister. Katie had always been the one to publicly condemn the twins for their wrongdoing, leaving the actual act of trying to prevent further shenanigans to Corine. Actually, they were a pretty good team.

"Okay, Katie. See you after Mythology?" he questioned, seriously hoping that it was a yes. Thankfully, she smiled.

"Of course! You said to meet you in the strawberry fields, right?" the daughter of Demeter asked, tilting her head slightly. Gods, she really could be adorable. He nodded, winking at his girlfriend. After Katie had given him one last kiss and went off to join her table, he smiled softly and fingered the ring in his pocket.

_I guess it's a date, then._

* * *

After breakfast, Katie had a bit of free time. Catching Corine's eye, she motioned for the younger girl to follow her and then pointed to the Demeter Cabin.

Once they were there, Corine plopped down on Katie's green bedspread, yawned, and let herself fall backwards.

"Nice to know that you feel at home here, 'Rin." Katie snorted. Corine grinned at her, and attempted a bow- well, as much as you can bow lying upside down with your head hanging off of a bunk bed.

"_Oh_, Katie, I _do_ try!" the daughter of Aphrodite said sarcastically. Katie smiled. She was aware that she was one of the few people lucky enough to see a genuinely happy version of Corine, and wished that her friend was more willing to share that side of herself with other people.

When Corine was happy, she noticed, she positively glowed. Her large gray-green eyes shined, and her smile was beautiful. The window's light brought out the gold in her dark blonde hair, and it would be no understatement to say that she looked radiant. It really was a shame. Most guys were so pig headed that Corine's slender frame would automatically send them in the other direction- just because of her _chest_, for Demeter's sake! It really was ridiculous. Well, Katie was sure that wasn't the only reason the younger girl had never attracted guys. For one, she had absolutely zero interest in flirting. She also tended to have a sharp tongue among those she disliked- mainly, people like Connor.

Now that Katie was dating Travis, she understood that some of Connor's cockiness was fake, but at the same time she sympathized with Corine's frustration. Another reason why she wasn't very popular despite her parentage was that she did sometimes go a little overboard when it came to "protecting the delicate virtue of the innocents at camp from nasty, sadistic demon spawn like _Stoll_", as she had once put it.

"You know, Corine, you really should wear makeup." Katie said, her mouth ahead of her mind. As soon as she saw the light leave the girl's face, she knew it was a mistake. The fleeting loveliness that had just posses Corine had left as soon as it came, and in it's place was a tired stubbornness that came from arguing the same point over and over again.

"_Gods_, Katie, please don't go all Aphrodite on me," the girl said in a fatigued tone, "I come here to _escape_ that stuff."

Silence ensued for a while, but it slowly turned in to a comfortable quiet that both of them could bear.

The two friends sat there until it was time to proceed to their next classes, and parted after exchanging smiles.

Katie started walking a bit faster, realizing that Travis was probably waiting for her in the fields.

_Oh, well!_ She thought. _He's late all the time. I'm sure it's nothing too important._

* * *

**A.N. SQUEEEEE! I'm sorry; I couldn't resist putting Tratie in there. So, how is it? Did I make a Mary Sue? Is Connor too mean? What should there be more of, humor or serious components? PLEASE tell me in the reviews, guys! Basically, if I even get one I'll be super happy *****nudge, nudge*. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!**


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